Starting this month, Brisbane residents can put items like fruit and vegetable peels, leftovers, napkins and pizza boxes into the green cart, along with yard trimmings. Now offering weekly green cart collection, South San Francisco Scavenger Company will convert the materials into transportation fuel and compost at their new anaerobic digestion facility.

Over the next two weeks, each household will receive a food scrap pail and detailed information about the new program, on their regular collection day.

To ensure that the anaerobic digestion process produces high quality fuel and compost, only food, food soiled paper and yard trimmings should go into the green cart. Contaminants such as plastics, including plastic bags and “bio bags,” glass, metal or any other non-compostable materials interfere with the process and must be kept out of the green cart. The food scrap collection allows residents to recycle a wide range of materials, including some that can’t be readily composted in backyard compost bins, such as meat, bones, paper plates and milk cartons.

You may have seen a recent article about the Summer 2024 Olympic and Paralympic games. There is a group called the San Francisco 2024 Exploratory Committee who are working on a potential bid for both these games. A proposal, if there is one, will have San Francisco as the lead city.

The exploratory committee is currently evaluating a variety of sites throughout the Bay Area for venues for various events and sports competitions. One of the ideas they are exploring is placing a temporary “pop up” Olympic Stadium that would be used for opening and closing events as we well as the Track & Field competition on the Brisbane Baylands. The stadium would be torn down and its materials repurposed after the Games have ended. The organizing committee has approached the property owner as well as the City in very preliminary and exploratory discussions.

The Bay Area is one of four sites in the United States that are currently evaluating whether they wish to bid for the 2024 games. The other three are Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Boston. Sometime towards the end of the year the City of San Francisco and San Francisco 2024 will determine if they want to compete for the United States bid. If so they will submit a formal proposal, which will include potential sites for various venues.

In early 2015 the United States Olympic Committee will determine whether they want to submit a bid that would be subject to international competition. If so they will choose amongst the American cities that submit proposals. In 2017 the International Olympic Committee will select and announce the host city for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

As you can see from this schedule, that discussion of Brisbane as a potential site for venues for the 2024 games is in its early stages. Any actual proposal would require environmental review as well as a City Council approved land-use permit.

Check in as the process continues as we will be updating the community on the status of decision making.

The City of Brisbane purchases 100% of our water from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC). The SFPUC has two major water sources; the Hetch Hetchy Watershed (i.e., snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada mountains located in Yosemite Valley), and local watersheds (i.e., rainwater and runoff received in major reservoirs in Alameda, Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties). While Hetch Hetchy is the primary source of our drinking water, the local watersheds serve important roles in an overall integrated water management plan; this alternate source of water provides backup supplies during times of drought, emergency, and scheduled maintenance on Hetch Hetchy. The two sources do have slightly different water quality parameters (which explains the range of values listed in our water quality report), but these differences are not typically apparent to the average consumer.

Within our city limits we operate two separate water districts providing water to the residents and businesses. The Brisbane Water District serves Central Brisbane, Sierra Point and the Baylands. The Guadalupe Valley Municipal Improvement District (GVMID) serves Crocker Park and the Northeast Ridge residential development. The water districts are interconnected and are operated together to maximize circulation and flow within the system. The interconnection allows the City to move water freely across the districts to supplement higher than normal demands.

For more information about where your drinking water comes from, how it is treated and maintained, the results of water quality monitoring, and other important information about water quality, please read the City’s 2013 Water Quality Report or contact the Public Works Department at (415) 508-2130.

The feeding of three cats during the time the Pool is closed (January - early March of 2015) had been brought to the City's attention from several concerned citizens. Parks and Recreation Director, Stuart Schillinger, reached out to these citizens explaining that first, there was a change in State law effective 1/1/2015 regarding animals at public pools and ancillary facilities in that they are not to be permitted at these facilities (except in the case of service animals). Of course, with the pool being outdoors, we can't so much prevent the cats from entering the pool area (or birds for that matter). So, in an effort to still feed the cats and follow the new law, Stuart, Ben (our new Pool Manager), and Karen (our engineer in charge of construction), thought that the best idea was to move the cats' food bowls to just outside the fenced in area towards Lipman field. The bowls should still be close enough for the cats who visit the pool to find the food. The citizens who are most concerned with the welfare of the cats were contacted by Stuart and feel this is the best solution at the moment. If you have any other ideas or concerns, please contact Stuart at 508-2151. Thanks all for your concern for the cats...and know their bellies will still be full.

Since March 4, 2013, when the City Council adopted an ordinance to ban single-use carry out bags, retailers have charged $0.10 per allowable bag (either paper or reusable thick plastic). Starting on January 1, 2015, per the adopted ordinance, the price per bag will increase to $0.25.

Recently, San Mateo County conducted a survey which showed:

A 162% increase in people bringing their own bags

A 66% decrease in people buying plastic bags, and

A 130% increase in people refusing a bag

The dramatic difference in customers using their own bags in lieu of purchasing bags benefits the environment, waterways and wildlife.

More information about the plastic bag ban ordinance is available on the San Mateo County Health Department's website: www.smchealth.org/bagban

If you have questions regarding this information, please contact Karen Kinser, Deputy Director of Public Works at (415) 508-2133, or San Mateo County Environmental Health at (650) 372-6200 or pollutionprevention@smcgov.org .